


Some hae meat

by traveller



Category: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-03-29
Updated: 2005-03-29
Packaged: 2017-10-15 16:38:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/162773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/traveller/pseuds/traveller
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><cite>James does not laugh at Jack's idea of a blessing, although he's tempted to laugh at the idea of Jack blessing anything at all. </cite></p>
            </blockquote>





	Some hae meat

i.

 _Some hae meat that cannae eat, and some can eat that want it. But we hae meat and we can eat, and so may God be thankit._

ii.

He has indeed indulged. It is known and acceptable for a man to bed whores, because men have lusts that women do not, and they must be dealt with. One certainly wouldn't take advantage of a respectable lady in such a manner. But if one's taste ran to other pleasures, after a achieving certain rank one did not indulge one's natural (or unnatural, depending on who's asking) inclinations unless very _very_ discreetly; indeed, after achieving a certain rank it is better to pretend one's desires do not exist at all.

All this to say,

 _Please. God. Yes. But... slow. I. Slow._

iii.

There is a constellation between Jack's shoulder blades, the stars dots of skin in a sky of India blue. James traces it while Jack dozes, committing to memory a guide he has never seen on any chart of paper.

 _We were becalmed near the Strait of Magellan, less than a day around the Horn_ , Jack explains, looking to sea; he explains although James didn't ask. _Have you ever been down there? Down by the fiery islands?_

 _No, no, I. No._

 _The wind blows backward. The sea turns black. A thousand fish fell from the clouds one day, right onto the foredeck._

 _And the stars?_

Jack shrugs, done telling tales for the night. The constellation ripples. His body is a compass that doesn't point north; James navigates by dead reckoning in the dark.

 

iv.

James does not laugh at Jack's idea of a blessing, although he's tempted to laugh at the idea of Jack blessing anything at all.

v.

 _Disgrace_ , James says, and the word slithers like an asp in his mouth, still venomous after all these years. _I came to the Indies in disgrace._

A hasty reassignment, his mother's influence not yet as empty as her coffers, and all the more bitter was the knowledge that it had been a mere dalliance that condemned him. If he'd loved the man, if he'd felt something more than just... desire, maybe he could have justified the shame.

He looks down at the lines in his palms, maps he cannot read. _Poor fortune_ , he concludes, _but long since done, and here I am._

Jack spills a bit of wine. _And thank God for it, man._


End file.
